The Path to Heaven
by Wintermute-AS
Summary: The boy was in hell and he knew it. He had no hope of getting out until he found out why there was a demon standing between him and paradise. He resolved that he would get there, demon or no demon.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I make any money off this.

**Chapter 1: Secrets and Ramen**

The boy was in hell; that was the only conclusion he could draw. It wasn't that he was burning in an eternal flame or was tormented continually by a pack of vicious demons as he had read in several accounts on the subject; rather, he saw his situation reflected in several other, less puerile, visions of the less pleasant side of the afterlife.

The boy had read in one book, he forgot exactly which, that hell was, in essence, the complete absence of God, even those lesser reminders of His presence that are other people. Though the boy lived in a village full of people, they universally shunned him. None acknowledged his existence in any way at all, and the boy remained an unwilling hermit in the midst of the throng.

Worse yet, the boy constantly watched the villagers go about their lives; talking and arguing, exchanging nods and embraces, even coming to blows, they lived in a paradise of interaction while the boy was forced to watch from outside, with the acknowledgement he craved always just out of reach. The same punishment he had read of in a story about a man named Tantalus.

And perhaps the most painful aspect of his existence, the boy had no idea what he had done to deserve such treatment, or lack thereof. He reasoned that if he could simply find out what he had done, then perhaps he could atone, gain acceptance in the village. But in order to do that, he first had to find out what was wrong, and he had no method to do that, leaving the boy with no hope of making his existence any better. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here" fit his life just as well as it did the entrance to hell described in that other book.

An utterly lonely existence, with paradise always in sight but no hope of ever reaching it. The boy was certain that he was in hell.

So it was with no small surprise that the boy noticed a man staring intently at him. And when that man spoke, the boy was utterly shocked.

"Boy," the man called, his voice harsh and his speech slurred, "come over here."

After verifying that there was no one else around that the man could be talking to, the boy approached with some trepidation. He had read about similar encounters before, and they seldom ended well. The boy was convinced however, that he was already in hell, so how much worse could it get? He was pretty sure getting killed could only improve his situation.

When the boy got close, the man continued, "You know boy, this is all your fault." At this declaration, the boy's attention was riveted to the man. This man _knew_. He _knew_ why the boy was ostracized, and he seemed to be willing to let the boy in on the secret. "Six years ago, I had a family; I'd finally made chuunin and my career as a ninja was going smoothly. I had everything I wanted in life. But then _you_ attacked the village; you killed my family, my team, you even killed the Yondaime. Then I started drinking; lost what little I had left. I just wanted to know … why? Why attack us? Did you have a reason?" The man waited for an answer, but he had lost the boy at 'attacked the village'.

Six years ago he had attacked the village? Finally the boy knew the reason for his treatment! He didn't know all the details yet, but he had a time frame and a general description. For the first time in his life, the boy knew hope; he might be able to fix things, be accepted! For the first time in nearly five years a smile crept onto the boy's face.

The man didn't really know what response he was hoping for, but this was definitely not it. His face reddened with rage, not only was the boy refusing to answer his question, but he was actually _smiling_. He was _happy _ about the man's suffering. The man couldn't stand it anymore, his suffering wouldn't be mocked. Drawing a kunai, he lunged at the boy with deadly intent screaming, "I'll kill you _demon_!"

The sudden movement shocked the boy back to reality, and he saw a knife headed straight for his throat. The boy knew he couldn't move in time, but he suddenly felt his body _shift_ into a crouch, avoiding the blade entirely. He didn't know what had happened, he didn't remember any intermediate position between standing and crouching… the boy dismissed the question for the time being. For now he needed to avoid that knife!

The boy needn't have worried, for at that point, a thrown kunai embedded itself in the man's throat, and a pair of shadowed figures stepped into view. They wore white masks painted with stylized animal features: one a dog, the other a tiger.

"Inu-sempai, was that really necessary? We were only called to arrest the man for public drunkenness. Admittedly, it is a fairly serious crime for a ninja, even a former ninja, but did it really warrant summary execution?"

"You heard him, Tora, he violated Sandaime's law. That law is enforced with no exceptions, and the punishment for violating it is always death," the dog-masked man replied, in a bored tone. "Set up a recorder seal, and process the body. The boy probably has some questions about this, and Hokage-sama is the only one who can answer them properly."

"You mean this is _that_ boy? But I thought he had died three years ago, in that fire!"

"Look at his face, Tora. I was told he had died as well, but there's no one else with those markings and that hair. Now you take care of things here, and I'll take the boy to see the Hokage," was the rejoinder, still in that same bored tone.

"You're just doing this to foist the paperwork off on me, aren't you, sempai?"

"You wound me! I would _never _do something like _that_!"

"Damn lazy bastard," grumbled the tiger-masked individual, "I _knew_ it. Why did the Uchihas have to go and get themselves killed? ANBU used to be strictly black-ops, but then the police force had to go get themselves annihilated and here we are, stuck doing their boring job. Hell, they probably ordered Itachi to do it, just to avoid all the damn paperwork…"

"Now, now Tora, you're in ANBU, we're all supposed to be unspeakably brave heroes and such. You wouldn't want people to think we can't handle a few little forms, would you?"

"Shut up."

"Of course, Tora. Come here kid," the dog-masked man said to the boy, "I need to take you to see the Hokage. He'll need to explain some things to you."

The boy had been watching this exchange with a bewildered expression on his face. First the drunk man had given him some clues about his status . Then the drunk man had tried to kill him, and he had dodged _somehow_. Then the two masked men killed the drunk man and saved him in the process. Then they engaged in one of the _strangest _conversations he had ever heard, and now he was to be taken to see someone called the Hokage who he gathered was going to _explain_ some things to him, for once. To top it all off he had just had more human interaction than he had had in the past three years, all within five minutes. The boy was too stunned to move at the moment.

_Well, I suppose that was a pretty traumatic experience for the boy._ The dog-masked man thought to himself as he walked over to the boy. Picking the boy up and putting him over his shoulder, the man explained, "The Hokage's office is halfway across the village, if we walk it would take far too long." Feeling the boy nod, the man took off, jumping across the rooftops with inhuman speed.

* * *

One bewilderingly rapid trip across the village later, the boy found himself standing next to the dog-masked man before an imposing, official-looking desk with a white-haired, kindly-looking old man seated behind. 

"What brings you to my office, Inu?" The old man inquired, an air of authority adding an iron component to his voice entirely at odds with his grandfatherly appearance.

"This boy Hokage-sama." At this the boy looked up at the old man eliciting a gasp of surprise from behind the desk.

"Where did you find him, Inu? We've been looking for three years now, ever since that incident." The Hokage sighed, _I had given up hope of finding the boy. We refrained from publicly declaring him dead, or even admitting outside of ANBU that he was lost, for fear that if someone did find him, then they would feel free to kill the boy._

"Tora and I were sent to investigate a report of drunk and disorderly conduct involving a former chuunin," Inu replied. "When we arrived, we found the man attempting to kill the boy. His speech indicated that he violated your edict involving the boy."

"I see. What is the man's status?"

"Dead sir. I executed him as per your standing orders regarding the law. Tora is currently processing the body."

"Very good. You mentioned that the man _tried_ to kill the boy. He was a former chuunin, how could he fail to kill a six year old boy?"

"The boy seems to have very good reflexes. Admittedly, the man was drunk, and he was slower than he would have been otherwise, but the boy managed to dodge the first stab. At that point I came into range and killed the man."

"I see. I suppose I have some things to explain to the boy," the old man said in a low voice; continuing somewhat louder, "Thank you for your assistance, Inu. I would like a perspective report of your interaction with the boy, attach copies of the records from the recording seals in your mask." At the mention of more paperwork, Inu seemed to deflate somewhat. "You're dismissed."

"Hokage-sama." Inu acknowledged in his usual bored tone as he slouched out the door.

Turning to the boy, the old man said, "Naruto-kun, I suspect you have many questions about tonight's events, please take a seat, and I'll answer what I can." The Hokage gestured to a chair to the right of his desk."

For the first time that night, the boy spoke in a voice harsh and broken from disuse, "Naruto-kun?"

"I believe that's your name, Uzumaki Naruto," the old man clarified. "Am I mistaken?"

"I never knew I had a name," the boy said in wonder. "Uzumaki Naruto, a maelstrom. I think I like it." Naruto said walking over to the previously indicated chair.

Once the boy was seated, the old Hokage inquired, "Naruto-kun, how is it that you didn't know your name? "

"Before this afternoon, no one had ever spoken to me. It had never occurred to me that I might have a name."

"No one ever spoke to you? Where have you been these past three years? We have been looking for you ever since that fire…" the Hokage trailed off at the boy's somewhat bewildered expression. _Ah, the boy said he was never spoken to. I should slow down a little and give him time to process things_.

After taking a few moments to process the Hokage's questions, Naruto answered, "No, no one ever spoke to me, or even really looked at me. I still haven't figured out why; they don't seem to do that to anyone else." The Hokage's face stretched into a regretful expression at this. Naruto continued, " I'm not sure how long it's been, but I remember wandering around for a while. Then I found this place with all these books and scrolls. I found out later it was called a library. Since then, I've spent most of my time in there, reading. Everyone ignores everyone else in there, so I didn't feel as out of place as I did outside. I only left there whenever I started to smell bad. Then I'd go rinse myself off in the stream in that park next door and go back to the library. That's actually what I was doing this afternoon when that drunk guy started talking to me."

At this, the Hokage was dumbfounded, those he was too well trained to let it show on his face. _This boy, who we thought was dead, has been living on his own, in a public library, since he was _three years old_, less than _two kilometers_ from my _office_, AND MY ANBU NEVER _REALIZED_ THIS. _The ANBU admission standards were going way up after this, _way_ up. _Wait a minute, he said … _"Reading? You can read, Naruto-kun?"

"Of course I can read, old man! It's not that hard." Naruto said, in the offended, yet still cute, manner that only a six year old can muster. "I mean there were instructions for how to do it right there in the library!"

"Instructions?"

"You know, those books where you put your finger on that weird pattern in the bottom corner of the page and you hear that voice explaining the words on the page to you." _Ah, the instructional books with the seal-embedded genjutsus, _the old Hokage thought._ It's been so long since Asuma and his sister were that age, I'd forgotten about them._

"My apologies, Naruto-kun, I'd forgotten about those. And I apparently also forgot that we're supposed to be answering your questions at the moment, not mine!" At this the young boy looked puzzled. _It looks like he forgot as well_, the Hokage thought, with some amusement. _Perhaps I should give him some help._ "Maybe it would be easier if you told me what happened this afternoon, and then I can fill in the gaps for you. Is that acceptable, Naruto-kun?"

The boy nodded his head at this, and began to speak….

* * *

"… and then the man called me a demon, and tried to stab me. I dodged, and then the two men with the masks saved me and I came here," Naruto finished his tale. _I wonder if I'll get some real answers today?_ Naruto wondered. 

"Well, shit." The Hokage murmured under his breath. Continuing in a louder voice, "I wanted to wait until you were older to tell you about this, Naruto-kun, because it's a difficult story, both to tell and to hear, but it seems that you need to hear it now." Seeing he had Naruto's rapt attention, the old man began, "Six years ago, this village was attacked by a monstrously powerful demon, Kyuubi no Kitsune. The ninja of this village tried everything imaginable to try to stop the beast, but nothing worked. The fox shrugged of any and all attacks. Finally, the Yondaime, the village's leader at the time, used a technique to seal the fox into a newborn child. The technique required the user's life as payment for its success, however, so the Yondaime died in defeating the demon." At this, the old man looked down in sorrow before locking eyes with the young boy in the chair next to his desk, "The newborn child used to seal the demon that day was you Naruto-kun."

At this Naruto's mind leapt into overdrive. He was the demon that attacked the village and killed so many? Then the hell he lived in was no more than he deserved. After all, demons lived in hell, right? At least now he knew why. There was some satisfaction in knowing that at least. Letting out a resigned sigh, the boy said, "So I'm the demon that attacked the village. That's why …"

"NO, you are NOT the Kyuubi," the Hokage interjected with the same iron tone he had used when addressing Inu before. "The Kyuubi is sealed within you. Naruto-kun, you are the container which keeps the demon from harming the village."

Naruto looked up at the old man with hope in his eyes that was quickly replaced with puzzlement. "Then why does everyone treat me as they do? I mean, if I protect them from the fox, why pretend I don't exist?"

The old man sighed, "You'll learn, as you get older, that people are stupid, Naruto-kun. Even though I told them that you were the container, not the demon, people are too afraid and too angry to believe me. The Yondaime's final words declared you to be a hero of this village. However, the people were afraid that we were wrong, that the fox would escape; and they wanted us to be wrong, so that the fox would not be beyond reach, so they could get revenge." The old man sighed again, "People will believe anything, my boy, if they want it to be true, or if they are afraid it might be true. Unfortunately your situation falls under both categories."

Naruto was still puzzled, "But if they think I am the fox, why are they just ignoring me? Why aren't they more violent?"

The old man paused, as if searching for the right words, "I believe you heard me speak of a fire three years ago, Naruto-kun." At the boy's nod, he continued, "In that fire, the people I had hired to take care of you were killed. We feared for some time, until this afternoon, in fact, that you were also killed in that blaze. We had reason to believe that that fire was not accidental. After that incident I made a law that no one was to speak of the fate of the fox, nor to take any violent action against you, on pain of death. I had hoped that forbidding anyone to speak of your condition would cause the resentment to fade, or barring that, at least the younger generation would never find out, and would therefore never have reason to treat you poorly. It seems that the violent resentment has only been moderated to you being shunned. I am sorry, Naruto-kun, that I was unable to do better for you," the old man finished his explanation. As he looked over to the boy to see how his words were received, The Hokage was stunned once again, to see a wide smile on the boy's face.

_I didn't do anything wrong! It's not my fault!_ Was bouncing through the boy's head. Now that he knew what was wrong, the boy knew that he could do something to fix the situation. Admittedly, he'd have to work around the fear and anger of the villagers, and human stupidity was nothing to underestimate; but now he had enough information to find a way to pull himself out of his lonely hell. The boy knew the road ahead would be difficult, but quite frankly, he had never been happier in his life.

Once again, the old man interrupted his thoughts, "Well my boy, it's been three years since I've seen you. Why don't I take you out to get some food and celebrate your return?"

Naruto was puzzled. Food? Why would he want that? He remembered the concept from his reading, but he'd always found it strange. He drank from the water fountain in the library sometimes, but he didn't remember ever eating anything, or even being hungry. The boy filed the question away along with just how he had dodged that knife earlier. He'd figure it out later. As for now he nodded in acceptance and followed the old man out of the room.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, the aging Hokage and the young Naruto were seated at the counter of a small ramen stand, and Naruto was in the process of discovering his first love, in the form of a hearty soup of broth and noodles. 

He honestly didn't care why other people found it necessary to eat and he didn't. At the moment, all he cared about was that the ramen he was eating tasted heavenly. However, even as he ate he was still gnawing at the problem of the village's hatred and what he should do about it. By the time he finished his third bowl he had come to the conclusion that as long as Kyuubi was contained within him, it would be nigh impossible to improve his situation significantly. By the end of his fourth bowl, he had come to the conclusion that the only ways to change that circumstance were either to set the demon free or to destroy the demon completely. By the end of his fifth bowl he had decided that while the almost certain death involved in setting the demon free would certainly be an improvement over his current circumstance, it was definitely not ideal. And by the time the old Hokage stopped him from getting a seventh bowl, protesting, laughingly, that he would be sick if he kept eating, Uzumaki Naruto had decided on a course of action.

He would kill the demon.


End file.
